Ten months ago, Stardom announced their newest signee to their dojo – a 5″8 woman known as Lady C who had been aptly dubbed the “Human Tower”; towering over every other woman in Stardom. This signing was a big deal, as most of Stardom’s signings in the year leading up to the announcement of Lady C’s had been outsiders to the company: Giulia, Natsupoi, Mai Sakurai and Mina Shirakawa, just to name a few. It was refreshing to see another face come from the company’s own training system, instead of hiring from Tokyo Joshi or Ice Ribbon.
Her signing to Stardom comes as no surprise, as recently Stardom seems to have failed to have more home-grown talent in the last few years, with the aforementioned outside signings having to fill the spots where these talents would be. That, and the unfortunate losses of Hazuki, Andras Miyagi, Hana Kimura, Kagetsu and an indefinitely injured Natsu Sumire and Saya Iida meant that their roster was getting thinner and thinner by the time the first lockdown came around in 2020. Lady C was a welcome addition.
On her debut match in the company, Lady C faced off against Saya Iida in a match that showed her off as very tall, leading to an interesting battle against the STARS member which played to their height differences. Despite a fun debut for the new rookie, she lost the match and looked to make an impact on other members of the roster. As an unaffiliated member of the roster, she would often face up and team with women from all five of the active groups. She’s teamed with Mina Shirakawa, Mayu Iwatani, Himeka as well as with Fukigen Death as well.
Throughout the next few months, she would rack up loss after loss, from faction member after faction member. You could name any member of the roster between November 2020 and August 2021 and they’ve probably beaten her in a one-on-one match. Her luck in three-women matches wasn’t any better, as she’d often hit her signature chokeslam before having her pin being stolen from her, or being pinned directly. Even in tag team matches, the rookie seemed to be a bad luck curse for everybody. Yet, after every defeat, she would reassure her fans that it was a learning experience for her, that she won’t feel upset about it, and that she’ll one day get her first win. She continued to fight and believe in herself, a belief that isn’t surprising considering that before becoming a wrestler, she was a school teacher.
In a gauntlet match at All Star Dream Cinderella Special Edition, Lady C and Maika gained a pinfall over Hina and Saki Kashima which gave the rookie her first official win in the company after seven months. It looked like her perseverance was finally paying off; luck was slowly beginning to be on her side and that her opportunities would only get bigger and better from here – but now, she aimed for her first singles win.
After Giulia had to step away from a show due to illness, Lady C was given her first main event spot as she joined Maika and Syuri against the Oedo Tai trio of Natsuko Tora, Saki Kashima and Starlight Kid. Despite Donna del Mondo incurring another loss with Lady C by their side, it looked like she had impressed the Donna Del Mondo leader, as on the July 10th show, she teamed with Giulia and Maika against Queen’s Quest and the three shared some cool glasses together – it looked as though Donna Del Mondo was the fan favourite group for the Human Tower to eventually join. This was due to the fact that she had teamed frequently with different members of the group previously, and thus the fan-given name “Lady Del Mondo” was born, which also coincided with her undrafted state and not fitting in (or being accepted) into any other faction. The fan support behind the motion of her joining the five-piece only became more and more popular, and at the same time, her luck started to become better as a result of the increased fan support. She was given another chance to team with Maika and represent Stardom at New Japan Pro Wrestling’s “Wrestle Grand Slam” where she faced off against the Queen’s Quest duo of Momo Watanabe and Saya Kamitani. Yet again, she suffered a loss, but her popularity with fans, her fast learning as a rookie and her resilient attitude in the wake of a streak of continuous losses gave people an underdog to cheer for and to believe in like she believed in herself.
The announcement of another outside signing, Waka Tsukiyama, had lead to series of match trials (known as challenges) that Waka had to compete in to prove her worth within the company, much like Mai Sakurai had done nearly a month before her – and included in the names that Waka had to overcome was none other than Lady C. By this point, Waka had already lost to five others; Future [of Stardom] champion Unagi Sayaka, Tam Nakano, Mina Shirakawa, Syuri, Starlight Kid and the Icon, Mayu Iwatani. It looked like there was finally hope on the horizon for the Human Tower’s first ever pinfall.
Just like her first match in the company, there was a sizable height difference between her and Tsukiyama, a parallel to her encounter with Saya Iida back in November. Waka was fully aware of the chokeslam – a finisher that had been hit multiple times, but could never finish opponents off – but her inexperience could cause this to be the end for her, so she smartly targeted the arms and and back to stop the Lady from picking her up and slamming her, allowing her to get a two-count rollup. However, the still-winless Lady had another idea – she would use a backbreaker submission to wear her opponent down and keep herself in control instead of risking another nearfall. And it worked! After months and months of losses and crushing defeats, Lady C secured her first win in Stardom, proclaiming “Ureshii, Tanoshii, Lady C!” (I’m happy, it was fun! Lady C!”)
She had proven that no matter how many times you fall down, and no matter how many times you may think that things can’t get better, if you just believe in yourself and the support of others around you, then you can do things you could have never imagined and dreamed of through, the power of perseverance and never giving up and in the process, becoming a fan-favourite underdog within the Stardom fanbase.
